Research: Idea 2: Obama's War on Terror

Despite the election of Barack Obama for the United State's new president and the overall domestic and civilian cry for a different course than previous president George W. Bush, it would appear that the only thing President Obama has completed in is changing the rhetoric. The ideology is still the same, except instead of Bush's doctrine, it is now Obama's War on Terror. Whilst Bush was focused on the military and foreign affairs of the United States, Obama has developed a nation that is ripe with some of the most controversial NSA and FISA regulations the public has seen.

• In the campaign "vowed to return the US to a moral, benign and cooperative foreign policy" - Trevor McCrisken
• Pursues ideological change in the country 
• "This meant reconstructing the narrative of the ‘war on terror’ by ceasing to use the same language as the Bush administration."- Tevor McCrisken
• First action - no longer using the phrase "War on Terror" 
• "The administration has stopped using the phrase and I think that speaks for itself" - 2009, Hilary Clinton (Secretary of State) 
• One of the first actions as president was to close Guantanamo Bay 
• Signed the executive order on his 2nd day of presidency 
• Still open (4 years later) 
• Political complications such as inability to be released due to threat and inability to go to trial due to evidence (received through tortue or too highly classified) 
• Obama has begun to classify terrorism (and ergo counter terrorism) as an "unpredictable political risk" McCrisken
• Gradually removing troops from Iraq whilst deepening Afghanistan / Pakistan commitment
• Characterized these two countries as the "real war on terror" 
• May 2, 2011 - Osama Bin Laden killed
• Greatest victory on Washington's war on terror
• Obama believed in change from the Bush regime but in the sense that his focus was too much on foreign policy
• Obama considered himself still a "true believe" in the war on terrorism 
• But believed that Bush had become distracted from the core of the issue through the invasion of Iraq
• He had no intention of "stepping back" from the war 
• Instead just wanted to change the rhetoric to instigate change and make it a more focused and streamlined effort 
• Obama vs. Bush
• Both believed in the war 
• However Obama believed that Iraq was an unnecessary distraction
• The root of the problem lay in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Taliban and Al Qaeda as the true enemies that needed to be hunt down and eliminated
• "...refocus our efforts on Afghanistan and Pakistan—the central front in our war against Al Qaeda" - Obama
• Obama continuously uses 9/11 as a justification for events in the present 
• I.E. the sending of 30,000 more troops in 2009 
• "We are at war. We are at war against al Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred that attacked us on 9/11, that killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, and that is plotting to strike us again. And we will do whatever it takes to defeat them." Obama after the failed Detroit bombing
• Kill-not-capture policy / use of drones
• 3x number of drones in May 2011 alone to Bush's entire presidency 
• "Can civilian casualties be justified in order to kill terrorist suspects?" McCrisken
• "Cubicle warriors" allow the American dream to still suffice
• Come to work as if it were any desk job, blow up and neutralize enemies, and drive home for dinner with families 
• They are immune to the repercussions of being on the ground or any sort of danger
• Sir Brian Burridge ^
• There is a difference between the public and "private" plan in Afghanistan 
• Public
• Increased number of foreign troops for protection of the civilian population
• Waiting until local law enforcement (Afghan National Army and Police) is ready to assume responsibility and command
• Private
• Negotiations with Taliban insurgents / rebels inside Afghanistan without appearing like the US is attempting a "cut and run" campaign 
• It is already longer than the major period of combat during the Vietnam War 
• Killing Bin Laden has allowed for the possibility of progress to be made with the Taliban leaders as the Al Qaeda / Taliban relationship rested heavily on the two leader's personal relationship
• Secretary Hilary Clinton ^
• Secret talks underway between various members/leaders of the Taliban 
• However many of these members such as Haqqani remain on the US kill-or-capture list 
• Lawrence Davidson 
• "The general citizenry is at once uninterested in what the federal government is doing as long as they feel no immediate negative impact (this is particularly true of foreign policy), and naively ready to accept the government’s protestations that it is acting in their best interests."
• Because there is no immediate influence on the civilian population, they take the position of uninterested. Particularly in foreign policy, because there is no repercussions  they are ready to accept what the government is feeding them - that they are acting in the public's best interest.
• Even though there a whistleblowers, only a minority of the population end up caring
• PRISM
• NSA system that allows the government access to the private communication of users online
• Connected to 9 popular internet sites including
• Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Skype, YouTube, AOL, Hotmail, PepTalk
• Google chief architect Yonatan Zunger upon hearing about it: 
• "We didn’t fight the Cold War just so we could rebuild the Stasi ourselves"
• Almost all the companies stated to be a part of it vehemently deny participation 
• Only when the government approaches with a court order about a specific user / account
• Though meant to target non-American personelle exclusively, senior government administration officers can authorize it --> "NSA can obtain the private communications of Americans"
• "Training materials advice new analysts that "it's nothing to worry about" if they accidentally collect U.S. content." Timothy Lee
• Abusive power
• NGO Greenpeace has been target by NSA several times simply because its based outside the US
• However majority of its members are American 
• Patriot Act 
• Law passed after 9 / 11
• Meant to aid in domestic security and identification of terrorists
• "...gives the government too much power, threatens civil liberties and undermines the very democracy it seeks to protect." Grabianowski
• Full title : Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001
• Title I
• Civilian liberties 
• Authorizes use of federal money to accomplish its goals
• Authorizes the Secret Service to create a nationwide electronic crime task force 
• Authorizes the President to confiscate property of any foreign individual who is believed to be dangerous in any way to the US 
• Information can then be submitted secretly to courts 
• Title II
• Broadens law-enforcement agencies power to conduct surveillance on "agents of foreign power" 
• Allows interception of communication if it is terrorist related
• Allows roving surveillance 
• Court order allowing an officer to use any means available to surveil that person regardless of where they go 
• Previously only a wiretap was allowed on one line in one location 
• It also authorized delayed search warrants
• Therefore a suspects house could be searched and the suspect would only be notified of it happening afterwards
• Title V
• National Security Letters (NSL)
• Its the demand for the release of information related to a person under investigation
• The act makes them much stronger and allows for them to be used against US citizens 
• Gag order
• Prevents target from knowing about it or telling anyone else about it
• Title VIII
• Adds several crimes to what is counted as terrorism 
• Increases the penalties for terrorism
• Its been used for things other than terrorism 
• Drug rings, removing homeless people from train stations, collection of financial data on random visitors to LV
• ^ New York Times
• 2002 - 2007 over 1,000 reported cases of NSL misuses